HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican lawmakers who have spread election conspiracy theories and falsely claimed the 2020 presidential vote was rigged are overseeing legislative committees tasked with setting election policy in two big battleground states.
Divided government in Pennsylvania and Arizona means any voting restrictions proposed by GOP lawmakers are likely to backfire. Even so, the high-profile nominations give lawmakers a platform to further question the integrity of elections in states that will be key to choosing the next president in 2024.
Giving such high positions to lawmakers who repeatedly conspired and spread disinformation cuts against more than two years of evidence showing that there was no widespread error or fraud in the last presidential election. It would also appear to run counter to the message sent in November’s midterm elections, when voters rejected candidates running for high office in presidential battleground states.
At the same time, many mainstream Republicans are trying to move past the lies told by former President Donald Trump and his allies about his loss to President Joe Biden.
“It’s an issue that many Americans and many Pennsylvanians are tired of seeing argued and argued over and over again,” said Pennsylvania state Sen. Amanda Cappalletti, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Election Law Committee. “I think we’re all ready to move forward and we’re seeing audit after audit that our elections are safe, fair and that people’s votes are being counted.”
Democratic governors and legislative victories last fall will reduce the influence of Republicans who have mumbled or pushed rhetoric trying to overturn the 2020 election.
But in Arizona and Pennsylvania, two lawmakers who reject the validity of that election — not to mention other elections since — will hold key positions of influence as majority chairmen of legislative committees that oversee election law.
In Arizona, Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers is taking over the Senate Select Committee after being nominated by an ally, Senate President Warren Petersen. He was one of two lawmakers who signed subpoenas that led to Senate Republicans’ widely derided audit of the 2020 election.
Multiple reviews and audits in the six battleground states where Trump contested his loss, as well as dozens of court rejections and repeated admonitions from officials in his own administration, pointed out that the 2020 presidential results were accurate . There was no fraud or widespread manipulation of voting machines that would have skewed the result.
Legislative appointments in Pennsylvania and Arizona highlight the gap between the two major parties on election law. Already this year, Democratic-controlled legislatures are moving to expand access to ballots and toughen penalties for intimidation of voters and poll workers, while many Republican-led states are trying to pass additional restrictions, a trend that has accelerated after Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election. .
Rogers, who gained a national audience for spreading conspiracy theories and questioning elections, has faced repeated ethics charges for his inflammatory rhetoric, support for white supremacists and conspiracy-filled social media posts.
He will now be the chief overseer of election and election laws in Arizona, where election changes are a top priority for some Republican lawmakers. Some want to eliminate mail-in voting and early voting options used by more than 80 percent of the state’s voters.
He has scheduled a committee meeting for Monday to consider bills that would ban unmonitored drop boxes, ban in-person voting or ballot picking and impose what pro-voter advocates say are additional early voting requirements.
In Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Cris Dush is taking over the chairmanship of the Senate State Government Committee after pushing to keep the state’s electoral votes from going to Biden in 2020. Dush also organized an electoral poll that he hoped to use the audit in Arizona style as a model.
He was nominated by Republican Acting Speaker Kim Ward, whose office explained Dush’s appointment only by saying that seniority plays a role and that members have priority requests.
In the early weeks of this year’s session, Dush moved to expand voter ID requirements and add a layer of post-election checks. Both are proposed constitutional amendments designed to bypass the governor’s veto by going to the voters for approval.
Dush said he also plans to develop legislation that would require increased security for ballot boxes and ballots.
“I’m going to make a promise to the people of Pennsylvania that the things I do here as chairman of the state government will be things that will be done right and fair,” Dush said in an interview. “You know, we just have to make sure that we can guarantee the integrity of the vote and that people are not disenfranchised.”
Arizona and Pennsylvania have newly elected Democratic governors who would likely veto GOP bills that Democrats oppose.
However, Democrats, county election officials and voting rights advocates in both states want changes to election laws that, with Dush and Rogers in office, may never see the light of day.
Alex Gulotta, director of the Arizona voting rights group All Voting is Local, said he expects the Legislature to pass many “bad bills.” He said moderate Republican lawmakers who would have voted for problematic measures under a Republican governor may now let them pass because they know Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs will likely veto them.
“This is performative,” Gulotta said. “This is not substantial.”
The question, he said, is whether Rogers and other Arizona lawmakers can cooperate on “small fixes” where there is consensus. For this, he said, “a real statesman” would be needed.
Liz Avore, a senior consultant at the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, said the organization expects another intense period of voting and election legislation ahead of the 2024 presidential vote, even as candidates who have repeated Trump’s lies about the election being stolen since 2020 they have lost their offers. for the governor. , secretary of state and attorney general in key battleground states.
States led by Democrats and Republicans often move in opposite directions, but a bipartisan consensus has emerged on some aspects of the election law, such as restoring voting rights for felons and expanding early in-person voting, Avore said.
Republican proposals, such as expanding voter ID requirements, are popular and have majority support, as do some Democratic proposals to expand access, said Christopher Borick, a professor of political science and polling at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA.
But to succeed with voters, Republicans must heed the lessons of 2022. Denying fair election results, he said, “is a loser for the Republican Party. Right”.
Cooper reported from Phoenix.
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